


Five times Kyle tries to ask Alex on a date and fails, and the one time he succeeds.

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: 5+1, During S1 and beyond, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21685585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: Kyle didn't realize how badly he wanted to be close to Alex again until he showed back up in Roswell with a crutch and a medal on his chest. Now the big problem is, how is Kyle supposed to ask out his former best friend?
Relationships: Alex Manes/Kyle Valenti
Comments: 18
Kudos: 67





	Five times Kyle tries to ask Alex on a date and fails, and the one time he succeeds.

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on Tumblr weeks ago, I'm supposed to be sleeping rn, but the thought that I needed to upload this to AO3 too wouldn't let me go, so here it is.

**1.**

Alex had just gotten back into town. Kyle even went to the parade. He wanted to go talk to him, but he chickened out. Alex had looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole. It was the same look he’d had on his face when they were kids, and Kyle would coax a secret out of him. The same look, but on a much more deliberately closed-off face. He’d grown up since they were close, that part was obvious, but he’d also become so much harder to read. Kyle hated it.

He wanted to be close to him again. Be able to read his face like he used to. He wanted to be able to read his eyebrow raises and his sighs and the way he’d press his lips together.

But he was scared. He wasn’t like Alex, he wasn’t brave like he was. He was just the kid that turned his back on his best friend. The one that left a guy that already didn’t have much. The one that hit the kid that was already getting beat up enough.

The wave of shame made him feel sick. So he left. He walked away from the parade and headed to the Crashdown. He was going to eat some fries. He’d regret it later, but he didn’t care.

Arturo smiled at him knowingly when Kyle came in, but he didn’t say anything, which Kyle appreciated. He just brought Kyle his fries and left him to eat in peace. When the bell at the door signalled the arrival of a new customer and Kyle saw the wide grin on Arturo’s face, he knew immediately who it was. There was only two people that made Arturo Ortecho smile like that. Liz, who wasn’t in town, and Alex.

‘Alex, my boy.’ Arturo smiled brightly as he came from behind the counter and disappeared out of Kyle’s sightline.

‘Hi mister Ortecho.’ Kyle could hear the tell-tale tapping of Alex’s crutch on the linoleum floor. It made a swoop of dread dip through Kyle’s stomach and his fries suddenly tasted like ash. Alex almost _died_. He came so close to having to stand at the back of the crowd at Alex’s funeral.

He turned on his seat so he could see him. Almost like his mind demanded a reassurance that Alex was there and breathing.

He hadn’t been prepared for the wave of… something unfamiliar. Alex, despite his clear discomfort, looked great. A little more pale than Kyle remembered him being, but strong. His jawline was still sharp and his cheekbones still looked like those of a supermodel. The scar over his eyebrow was new and there was some colour high on his cheeks and his eyes were still warm and soft. Kyle wanted to stare at him over a candlelit dinner table.

Wait.

What?

Oh. That was new.

Alex’s eyes darted to him, and his smile turned harder and sharper. Anger. He still recognized that emotion.

‘Valenti, you couldn’t stare harder if you tried.’ Alex said and his voice was lower than Kyle remembered it. ‘Careful, people might start to get ideas that you’ve missed me or something.’ It was maybe a little bit of a low blow, not that Kyle didn’t deserve it. He would have said something snarky in reply, but his brain was still hung up on that dinner date he’d thought about for only a split second.

‘Good to have you back, Manes.’ Was what he said. Surprise flickered over Alex’s face for only a second before Arturo swept him away with the promise of fries and a milkshake.




It wasn’t _really_ breaking and entering if your father had owned the place, right?

That was what Kyle told himself at least when he approached the door of his father’s cabin with a block of wood, intending to just… break a window. That was all. He wasn’t expecting the voice behind him.

‘You know, you could just knock. It’s less of a felony, but it’s also less dramatic, so it depends on what you’re going for here.’ He wasn’t sure what his body did, just that he nearly dropped the wood on his foot and whirled around. Alex was there, looking like he hadn’t been sleeping well, crutch tucked under his arm. He looked calm though. Not like this bothered him much, but maybe that was just his poker face. Alex had always wiped the floor with him at poker.

He ended up inside with Alex, and the whole thing came out. His father left Alex this place. His father had seen that Alex needed someone, some _place_ and he’d given that to him. He’d been there for Alex, after his death. He needed Alex to understand, what his father had thought of him, what _Kyle_ thought of him, now that he wasn’t blinded by teenage bullshit.

‘You’ve got it wrong, you know.’ He said. ‘My dad didn’t leave you that key because he thought you were weak. He would never have thought that about you.’ And neither have I. ‘You’re the bravest person I know.’ He said without giving himself the time to overthink it. The way Alex looked up at him nearly floored him. Those eyes and that soft smile and the tiniest hint of warmth in his face. It was enough for him to want to try and coax that out more. He needed Alex to smile more. He wanted to be the reason for Alex to smile more.

So while they were bantering like they were kids again, “This is the part in the horror movie where the audience starts screaming _no don’t do that_ ”, Kyle had to fight his smile and focus on the actual, literal skeletons they may have been about to find.

They didn’t find skeletons, instead Kyle found a half-sister. One that had died ten years ago. He felt like he was on a fucking rollercoaster, and he’d never liked those very much. Alex was watching him closely with concerned eyes as he walked him out and Kyle felt like he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve Alex’s concern, his forgiveness, his love. Not that he had any thoughts of Alex still loving him like he’d loved him when they were kids. _He_ had broken that, all by himself. It was on him to fix it.

And he would try, but not today. He’d ask Alex out to get some beers another day, as a friendly thing, with Alex, his _friend_.




He accepted that he now had a thing for Alex when they ended up working together in the bunker for hours. When he had time to familiarize himself with _Alex_ again. The way he’d tap his fingers on the keyboard, even when he wasn’t typing. The way he’d bite his lip in concentration. How he’d shift his leg every so often, but didn’t acknowledge that he was uncomfortable whatsoever. How the blue lighting of his screens made him look ethereal, otherworldly beautiful. Which was kind of funny because _aliens_.

He opened with “I know you don’t like me, and that’s cool, but all this is a lot” he nearly said that they could go have dinner. Instead he said they should go have a beer sometimes. Alex sighed, but he didn’t say no. It was a start.

He felt so off balance around Alex, it was almost hard to believe that Alex couldn’t tell. Alex who had eyes like a hawk and saw everything. Maybe that was why he suggested Alex should go talk to Guerin. He didn’t think Guerin was good for Alex, hell, he didn’t think he was good enough for Alex. Not with the way Alex had been looking every time Guerin was so much as mentioned. The guilt and the pain that was written all over Alex made Kyle want to snipe and sneer at him. But he also saw that Alex wasn’t at that point yet. He wasn’t angry, just confused and hurt.

Maybe a talk was exactly what they needed. So Alex could see that all Guerin would ever do was hurt him. He wasn’t even sure what exactly happened between them. All he knew was that the darkness in Alex’s eyes, the forced smile and the painful longing looks were Guerin’s fault.

Guerin, who was, apparently an alien.

So instead of asking Alex out to dinner, Kyle told him to go talk to the man he’d been in love with for ten years. He just wanted Alex to be happier, and if Guerin was necessary for that, he’d push Alex in that direction, but if it turned out he wasn’t the thing that would make Alex smile more? Kyle had other options.




Caufield was a nightmare in so many different ways. Kyle found out his father had been killed by an alien, but also that he’d been a part of what was basically a war crime. The systematic imprisonment and torture of aliens. Kyle felt sick thinking about it.

‘Alex and you, huh?’ Guerin’s question was… slightly jealous? Which was fucking ridiculous. Alex had told him about Guerin sleeping with Maria. To his credit, he’d been exhausted and on his way to tipsy and Kyle had coaxed the story out of him because he’d looked _wrecked_. Guerin had gone and slept with the best friend of the guy he was supposed to be in love with. That didn’t really spell “love” to Kyle, that took away his right to be jealous as far as Kyle was concerned. Not that there was anything to be jealous off.

Alex’s brother had made Kyle want to throw his oath aside and bash him over the head with a fire extinguisher. The alarm going off was the only thing that stopped Kyle. Alex running further into the building about to blow made Kyle feel sick to his stomach. Would he have done the same for Kyle? Probably, it was just Alex’s nature. Self-sacrificing. He believed that he had something to make up for. Kyle didn’t believe it for a second. What their families had done, was not on them. His father’s crimes were not Alex’s to atone for.

Running away from a building about to blow wasn’t as cool as it seemed in the movies. In fact, it fucking sucked. Alex grit his teeth and Kyle refused to let him fall behind, he would have carried him out of there if he had to. Alex pushed him behind the truck first. The explosion was like a punch directly to Kyle’s heart. The look on Alex’s face was a second hit.

Alex didn’t really talk about war, or what it was like, so when he started talking, Kyle stayed quiet and listened. His hatred for Jesse Manes grew by tenfold. Alex had always had a kind heart. He had been a gentle soul. One that believed in love and that good would prevail, he’d believed in happy endings, and now he was questioning if _he_ was the evil? Kyle hated it. He hated Jesse and he hated anyone else who had ever told Alex he was anything but kind and wonderful, himself included. He’d spend the rest of his life, as long as Alex would have him around, making up for his lapse of judgement in high school. Where he’d thought his reputation was more important than the boy with the soft eyes and the kind heart.




Things just got worse after that. Every time he spend an extended amount of time around Alex, his brain would just start chanting “ask him out, ask him out, ask him out”. As it turned out, it was hard to focus when that happened.

Especially when things went from bad to worse to godawful and Alex ended up on his doorstep at noon, looking like he hadn’t slept in three days with the simple words:

‘He didn’t show.’ Kyle didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. ‘He said he’d come back and we’d talk, and he didn’t show.’

He just pushed the door further open and let Alex in. He looked as close to tears as Kyle had seen him in a long time, and if Guerin had shown up at his front door in that moment, he would have broken his nose. No one should ever make Alex Manes look like that.

‘How long did you wait?’

‘All night.’ Alex’s voice cracked and he followed it up with an annoyed cough. ‘I guess I deserve it. I left so many times, it’s only right he leaves me too.’

‘No.’ Kyle said and Alex turned, he looked almost surprised. ‘No. Don’t say that. You don’t deserve to get hurt Alex. If he cares about you at all, he shouldn’t hurt you like this, no matter what you have or haven’t done. Which, by the way, you didn’t have much of a choice in. You couldn’t have stayed, you would have been court-martialled.’ He could already hear Alex’s next argument coming. ‘And when you were seventeen doesn’t count. You were young and scared and you saw an opportunity to learn how to fight back, that’s not on you, that will never be on you.’

Alex watched him for what felt like hours. His frown slowly disappeared and was replaced by a shaky smile. It didn’t quite reach his eyes and he still looked like he was about to keel over from exhaustion, but he didn’t look quite as shattered anymore.

‘You’re a good man, Alex. You deserve to be treated like it.’ He added, just for good measure. He actually could have said something there, it was a good leadup. He’d treat Alex right. He knew Alex was a good man. He wasn’t going to sleep with his best friend (…..anymore). He’d take him on dates and hold his hand and love him and treat him like he deserved to be treated. But now wasn’t the right time. He knew that. So he just offered Alex a beer and kicked the voice in his head to the curb, now was not the right time.

**+1**

It had been months. The “relationship” between Maria and Guerin had fizzled out. Kyle was unsurprised. It was based on lies and at the cost of someone they both claimed to love. Maria found out about the alien thing. Kyle had seen them around each other, and they tried, he had to give them that, they tried to make it work. But it was clear that there wasn’t much there beyond liquor and trauma fuelled hook-ups. Guerin’s heart wasn’t in it, and Maria’s heart was broken. One half longing for a man she knew would never love her like he was supposed to, and the other half longing for a broken friendship, one maybe broken beyond repair.

And Kyle? Kyle put all his time and effort not spend trying to resurrect Max or get to know Rosa into helping Alex figure out who he was without the Air Force and without Guerin.

It was amazing. Hearing Alex laugh, warm and free at one of Kyle’s silly jokes. Watching him listen to old albums with Rosa. Watching as he taught Isobel how to defend herself, his proud expression when she kicked a dummy so hard it fell over. Seeing how he systematically dismantled project Shepard. How he used his powers for good, to take down evil, how he proved his father had created his own downfall. He’d treated Alex like shit, for years, he should have been broken or angry at the world, instead he made it a better place. He proved he was stronger than his father, stronger than Kyle, stronger than Guerin. He refused to give up. He took care of Liz as she worked herself nearly to death, he let Isobel cry on his shoulder and faced a screaming Guerin without flinching.

‘Why won’t you let it go!? He’s dead. _Gone_! Stop trying Alex, just leave it alone! You’re good at leaving, we both know that.’

Alex stopped Kyle from breaking Michael’s nose with a simple gesture and a soft “no”.

‘He’s hurt and terrified and he misses his brother. It’s okay.’

‘No it’s not.’ Kyle said, still seething. ‘Get out Guerin. Don’t come back unless you’re ready to apologize to Alex.’ Guerin had tears in his eyes when he stomped towards the ladder and climbed out of the bunker. Kyle couldn’t find much sympathy for him, especially not when Alex sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He was upset. He hadn’t shown it in front of Guerin, but he was upset. He was letting Kyle see it.

‘Let’s go for dinner.’ Alex looked at him, question in his eyes. ‘You and me, let’s go have dinner.’

‘Like a date?’ Alex asked, his face wasn’t as unreadable to Kyle anymore, but he still couldn’t quite tell what Alex was thinking in that moment.

‘Yeah, like a date.’

‘If you’re just doing this because you feel bad for me-‘

‘No. That’s not what this is at all.’ Kyle said firmly. ‘I wanted to ask you out when I saw you on the day of the parade.’ Alex blinked at him, soft smile spreading over his face.

‘That long, huh?’ Kyle shrugged.

‘You weren’t ready, there was other things going on. So I waited.’ He simply said. 

‘You waited for me.’ Alex said like he couldn’t quite believe it, so Kyle stepped closer to him and took his hand.

‘Yeah.’ He said, squeezing Alex’s hand as a reassurance he was here and he was real.

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re worth the wait.’ Kyle had hoped for a fond smile and maybe some kisses, instead he got a solid punch to the chest and a Alex-Manes-special-eyeroll.

‘You’re an idiot.’

‘But I’m your-‘ Alex cut him off with a kiss and that might have been exactly what Kyle had been going for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


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